Schotte: “Pope Francis has united himself in the fight against fossil fuels”

WILLEMSTAD – While the government of Curaçao has introduced a new policy on January 1, 2015 to monopolize the “Sun” and make this inaccessible, Pope Francis has made a call to the 1.2 billion Catholics around the world to make them aware of the importance of acting against policies that affect changes in the climate on local and on an international level.

Pope Francis will use the influence of the Catholic Church to disapprove the erroneous policies of fossil consumption, which today is causing disasters all around the world. The document called Papal Encyclical will transmit to the 5000 bishops and also the 400,000 pastors around the world the message, which contains scientifically substantiated ingredients to bring awareness to the 1.2 billion Catholics. They have to put an end to the use of fossil fuel, because there are other alternatives. The policy which is the main cause of natural disasters such as what recently happened in the Philippines (Tacloban) where 10,000 people lost their lives.

With this strong declaration from the Pope, we have entered the New Year with a complete rejection of the policy of producing water and electricity based on plants that consume heavy diesel (fossil fuels), which are derived from oil. Pope Francis will use the platform of the United Nations in September 2015 and will also attend the Conference on Climate Change in Paris at the end of 2015 to share his message.

The Pope will ask the leaders of the world to change their attitude and policies and to commit themselves to stop the emissions of gas that is destroying the ozone layer and consequently changing our climate on a local level, but also internationally.

Through this message, the Catholic Church, through Pope Francis, completely disapproves the fossil policy, which is a policy of the current government and also of the utility company Aqualectra. The Church approves 100% the use of alternative energy.

“Addressing the causes and effects of climate change is a moral and social justice issue for them, as the impacts of a changing climate will disproportionately affect those who can least-ably adapt (and who did not emit most of the pollution in the first place). Francis’ close friend, Argentinian Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo is the Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and Social Sciences. He said in an annual lecture to the British Catholic group Cafod last month: “today solid scientific evidence exists that global climate is changing and that human activity based on the use of fossil materials contributes decisively to this trend.”